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Conservatives Split on Immigration Reform

The Heritage Foundation released a study on Monday that estimate the bipartisan immigration proposal being considered in the Senate would cost U.S. taxpayers $6.3 trillion. Other conservative groups were quick to denounce the study for overlooking the role immigrant workers would play in growing the economy. The Washington Post reports:

“The Heritage Foundation document is a political document. It’s not very serious analysis,” said former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, a Republican who is involved in a bipartisan group that supports immigration law reform. “The study is designed to try to scare conservative Republicans into thinking the costs will be so gigantic you can’t possibly be for it.”

The study could determine the future of the immigration proposal and the success or failure of immigration reform. Conservatives helped sink immgiration reform in 2007 but now in a different political climate, some conservatives are hopeful supporting immigration reform will help with outreach to Latino and Asian American communities.

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